Students Walk Out To Protest Facebook Suspensions

[Tandem Guy]

wcco.com/education/facebo...26894.html

More spoiled kids in today's society.  If it were one of my kids, getting suspended from school would be the least of his worries....  

TG

[John Masterson]

More power to the administration of Eden Prairie High.

Good job. The kids are idiots. Someday they'll see how stupid they were. Maybe 20 years from now,

[Richardk]

I'm not so sure this is a good thing.

At first glance, my reaction is "what a bunch of dummies". They need to learn that once that stuff is posted, it's there forever.

But after reading the story, was it really 2 to 4 years ago? And the kids had a point that it had nothing to do with the school.

First of all, they were still stupid for posting that stuff but what if this punishment moves out into the general public? Where do we draw the line?

If your employer finds out that you supported the "wrong" political party, can they fire you?

What if you were seen at a party a few years ago that your competitor also attended? Grounds for punishment?

I know I'm going to an extreme to make a point. Still stupid behavior but how far will people probe into personal lives in the "real" world and when is it and isn't it appropriate?

Still, better the kids learn now than later in life with something even dumber.

[David Cressey]

I agree with you about going to an extreme to make a point.

If we ban freedom of expression where it's "plainly wrong", the argument is aleays that "legitimate expression"  is not impacted.  THe ACLU takes the opposite view, or at least it used to.  When they defended pornographers, it wasn't because they thought society really needs porn.  It was because restricting freedom of expression starts a snowball.

Much as I hate to agree with the ACLU,  I agree with them on this score.  However, it bothers me that the ACLU seems to have reversed its stand when it comes to restricting "hate speech".

I'll go even further.  You can't train high school kids to live in liberty by educating them in an authoritarian high school.  You have to gradually loosen the restrictions you place on them until they reach the point where they are able to handle liberty  with self control.  You can't wait until they are eighteen to start this process.

And they are going to make mistakes.  Some of them will be serious ones.  And you shouldn't shield them from the consequences of their own errors,  at least not all the consequences.

Ron Paul summarized it best:  freedom is risky.

(If there are any Ron Paul supporters reading this,  I hope you don't think I'm one of you.  I just like to quote him.)

(revision by author:  I went back and substituted  "authoritarian"  for "fascist".  I decided that my use of "fascist" was subject to the same criticism that I have leveled at others for using the term "islamofascist".)

[codger]

Quote:If your employer finds out that you supported the "wrong" political party, can they fire you?

Yes they can. It's called "at will" employment.

[TRexx]

Quote:If your employer finds out that you supported the "wrong" political party, can they fire you?

Absent an employment contract, yes,

Regarding this story, the facts aren't very clear.  I read the article carefully and it seems like the only students punished were those who participated in team sports and signed a "code of conduct".   If this is the case,  and they were only suspended from participating in sports, then I feel the school was within their rights, despite the flimsy evidence.  

On a similar note, one of the local high schools has had mandatory, random drug testing for seveal years.  Anyone who wishes to participate in any sports, clubs or park his car on school grounds has to submit. If they test positive they are referred for counseling and may be suspended from their team and/or lose their parking sticker.  But they are not suspended from school.  

This has been challenged  in the courts and it was decided that the school cannot use these tests to deny a student his right to an education. But no student has a right to play football or park his car.

Students can still be suspended for the standard behavior issues.  Oddly enough, if a kid shows up to school drunk or stoned, they can kick him out, but they can't test him unless they get a court order or his parent's permission.



 

[David Cressey]

While they have the legal right,  it's a chilling prospect if the practice becomes widespread.

In theory, people who discriminate on the basis of "political correctness" should be at a competitive disadvantage relative to those who do not.  The invisible hand, operating over time,  should weed out the bigots.  In practice it could take 20 years for that weeding process to work itself out.  

Elsewhere,  GB pointed out that he doesn't get any credit for having an engineer's degree.  So,  the degree you get in engineering fades in value to nothing after ten years,  but the stupid thing you put in facebook when you were a teenager becomes part of your "permanent record".  A recipe for dystopia.